The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar/The Masters

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

THE MASTERS

Oh, who is the Lord of the land of life,
  When hotly goes the fray?
When, fierce we smile in the midst of strife
  Then whom shall we obey?

Oh, Love is the Lord of the land of life
  Who holds a monarch's sway;
He wends with wish of maid and wife,
  And him you must obey.

Then who is the Lord of the land of life,
  At setting of the sun?
Whose word shall sway when Peace is rife
  And all the fray is done?

Then Death is the Lord of the land of life,
  When your hot race is run.
Meet then his scythe and, pruning-knife
  When the fray is lost or won.